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Born v. Haverhill Golf & Country Club6/13/2003
tive damage award not shock the reviewing court. In State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Campbell, supra at 1524, the Court eschewed "rigid benchmarks" but mused that " ingle-digit multipliers are more likely to comport with due process." We are impressed but not shocked by the punitive damages award in this case. Again, the jury, proceeding on the collective sum of their experiences, appear to have worked their way to dollar amounts that reflect the jurors' assessment of the reprehensibility of the Club's conduct and what it will take to deter like conduct in the future by the Club and other clubs that are places of public accommodation.
9. Scope of injunctive relief. In its complaint, the Commonwealth asked for a permanent injunction "barring the defendant from continuing its discriminatory practices on the basis of sex with respect to membership in the Club." The trial judge issued a detailed injunction that contained prohibitions, as well as affirmative duties that included disclosure of information, compilation and distribution of a handbook that describes the Club's governance and golfing privileges, and training sessions for the Club's officers and employees about gender bias and fiduciary obligations of officers and directors of nonprofit organizations. We have attached to this opinion as an appendix the entire permanent injunction.
The Club grumbles that no evidentiary hearing preceded issuance of the injunction. The Club does not explain what an evidentiary hearing would have added to the evidence amassed in four weeks of trial. In protesting that there has been no inquiry into who would suffer irreparable harm, the Club mistakenly seeks to graft onto a permanent injunction criteria that apply to preliminary injunctive relief. See Packaging Indus. Group, Inc. v. Cheney, 380 Mass. 609 (1980). Nor is the Attorney General, when requesting an injunction in the public interest, required to make a showing of irreparable harm. Commonwealth v. Mass. CRINC, 392 Mass. 79, 89-90 (1984). Commonwealth v. Wellesley Toyota Co., 18 Mass. App. Ct. 733, 737 (1984).
The Club protests that the injunction, by reason of its detail, micromanages the Club. Had the injunction been less specific, however, the Club would infallibly have protested that it swept too broadly and that the Club had not been fairly placed on notice as to what action or inaction on its part would cause it to be in contempt. The scope of equitable relief is left to the discretion of the trial judge. Commonwealth v. Adams, 416 Mass. 558, 566 (1993). A court may "mould each decree to the necessities of the particular case[;] . . . equity the instrument for nice adjustment and reconciliation between the pubic interest and private needs." Hecht Co. v. Bowles, 321 U.S. 321, 329 (1944). Courts often employ detailed orders to correct violations of public rights. Perez v. Boston Hous. Authy., 379 Mass. 703, 734 (1980). "The rule of thumb may be that the more indurated the violations of law and the remedial injunction, the more imperative and controlling the later superseding injunction." Ibid. Here there was no violation of a prior injunction but certainly a history of hardened position of resistance to the objectives of the permanent injunction. Detail was called for.
10. Attorney's fees. Under G. L. c. 151B, ยง 9, the plaintiffs, if they prevailed, were entitled to recover their reasonable counsel fees and costs, and they brought a motion to do so, supported by affidavits and a memorandum. The Club filed counter affidavits and a memorandum of law. The judge ordered that the Club pay $468,072 in counsel fees and $18,073.62 in costs, a total award of $486,145.62.
In making his award, the judge subtracted, fr
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